


My Roommate is a Ghost

by alchemicink



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Slice of (after) Life, Slice of Life, kinda angst but not really, this romance moves slower than a glacier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1459252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemicink/pseuds/alchemicink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takaki Yuya is a loner who loves the beach. Inoo Kei is a ghost with a penchant for practical jokes. And Yabu Kota has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Roommate is a Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> All I wanted to do was write a story about a ghost who thinks it's funny to climb out a window. Somehow this happened. Anyway, this is mostly a story about friendships, introverts, and the unexpectedness of life. Enjoy~ 
> 
> Disclaimer: Not intended to be a completely accurate representation of the people I'm writing about. Especially since this is an AU story anyway. It's just for fun!

Takaki Yuya had always been able to see ghosts. It was never much of a big deal to him. When he was a small child, the ghosts he saw were basically just broody old people who hung out near cemeteries and never wore shoes. Over time, he learned to ignore and avoid them. He never told his family about his ability and he’d never had any problems with the wandering spirits. In fact, by the time Takaki turned twenty-four and was moving into his first place, it had been well over three years since he’d seen any sort of ghost at all. 

With the keys in his hand, Takaki walked into the beach house. No, _his_ beach house, he reminded himself. He had signed the papers, he had made the first payment, he had already moved all his stuff in. The little cottage by the sea was now his new home. His keys clinked together before he set them down on the kitchen table. This was going to be his new start on his own. He looked around the room, thinking about what personal touches he could add to the walls to make it feel more welcoming. 

When Takaki had first decided to move out of his parents’ house, he immediately began looking at the beach for a place to live. He’d always loved everything about the beach—the waves, the wind, the sand, everything. It was the place where he’d always felt most at peace. No one had ever seemed to understand that. He was lucky enough to find two jobs to support himself, one part-time at a surf shop and another as a waiter at a local café. They weren’t the most amazing jobs he’d ever had, but they were enough to put food on the table and allow him to live in his dream home. 

Honestly, he should have known that it was all too good to be true. _Something_ had to go wrong. And on the third night in his new house, it did.

He was awakened by a loud crashing sound coming from the kitchen. He bolted straight up in bed, feeling chill bumps spring up along both his arms. He grabbed the baseball bat that he’d stashed under his bed and tiptoed towards the kitchen, making sure to try to look as intimidating as possible for whatever had caused the noise. His shoulders were tense and his knuckles white as he gripped the bat tightly. But as he flipped on the lights, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the room was empty. His relief instantly turned into annoyance when he saw the source of the noise. All of his pots and pans were lying in a heap in the middle of the floor. He set the baseball bat down by the doorway and began picking everything up. It was late, after 2am, and Takaki didn’t even want to think about how all of his kitchen stuff had ended up on the floor, especially considering that all the cabinet doors were still closed. He just tried to pretend this was all a dream and went back to bed as soon as he was done. 

On the sixth night, it happened again. Only this time the crashing sound came from the guest room upstairs. Takaki crawled out of bed, picked up the baseball bat again, and went to investigate the noise this time. He only held the bat loosely in his right hand as he climbed the stairs sleepily. Just as he had suspected, the books that he’d placed in the bookshelf in the guest room were all over the floor when he turned the light on. Thankfully though, none of them were damaged since they’d all landed face up. Takaki gathered the books up into one stack and went back to bed.

When he went back up there the next morning to put the books back on the shelf, he discovered that they were already in their proper places. Shrugging, he went back downstairs for breakfast.

Things just continued from there. One morning he woke up and all the paintings he’d hung on the walls were upside down. After a quick breakfast, he easily flipped them all back right side up except for the one abstract painting he’d put by the staircase. Upon further inspection, Takaki decided that it actually looked better from that angle, so he left it. A few mornings later, he found his frying pan hanging in the kitchen window curtains. He took it down without a word and fried up some bacon for breakfast. A week later, the door to the guest room slammed shut while he was reading the newspaper. With a sigh, he set it down and trudged up the stairs to the room. The books were arranged in a weird-looking smiley face on the floor. Takaki stacked them up but didn’t even bother putting them back on the shelf. 

After a month of this though, Takaki had to admit that he was frankly sort of annoyed with it all. It was like a classic movie haunting, only less vengeful. Very clichéd. He had moved into this house because he wanted to live on his own. He just wanted his solitary life without having to deal with people. He had not intended to share the place with anyone, not even a ghost. So he supposed he was just going to have to do something about it.

***

“We are looking for what now?” Yamada Ryosuke asked as he followed Takaki down one of the bookstore aisles. He was pretty sure he’d misheard what Takaki had said.

“A book on how to get rid of ghosts,” Takaki repeated while browsing through the titles. He shook his head as each book turned out to be unhelpful. 

“That’s what I thought you said,” Yamada said frowning with concern. “Listen, maybe you just need to get out of the house more or something. Make some new friends. I know I haven’t visited you in your new place yet, but I was going to.”

Takaki turned away from the row of books for a moment to look at his friend, his only friend really. “You don’t believe me?” he asked. He tried to cover up his frown. No need to let Yamada know how he felt about not being believed.

Yamada avoided eye contact. “No, I just mean that maybe your mind is playing tricks on you. You just need to get out more.”

“I have two jobs,” Takaki reminded him and went back to looking through the books. There was no way he could have just imagined what was happening in his house. Yamada meant well, he knew, but he didn’t know about Takaki’s ability to see ghosts. They had been friends, acquaintances really if they were being technical, for about two years. Yamada was a sort of social butterfly who could instantly grasp on to people and make new friends easily. Takaki didn’t really open up to people but, for some reason, he continued to occasionally hang out with Yamada anyway. 

“How about we go out next Saturday? I’ll find a nice club and…”

“I’d rather not,” Takaki said. Spending all night surrounded by loud people and loud music was not ideal. Not when he could easily spend his night down by the ocean, watching the stars and listening to the sound of the crashing waves.

“Dinner at least?” Yamada asked. Perhaps he knew a lost cause when he saw one.

“That’ll be fine,” Takaki answered. He crossed his arms and scanned over the books again. He wasn’t finding anything helpful. “There’s nothing here,” he muttered under his breath, but apparently still loud enough for Yamada to hear. 

“You know, this _is_ the twenty-first century,” Yamada said as he began walking back to the entrance of the little bookstore, “you can use things like Google now.”

“You are completely unhelpful,” Takaki said but followed Yamada out anyway.

***

As it turned out, Google was just as unhelpful in the matter. Everything Takaki read about exorcisms just involved holy water, which he had none of, and projectile vomiting, which he was not keen on cleaning up. So in the end, he decided to find the ghost and just politely ask him to leave.

He waited in bed, pretending to sleep, until he heard the sounds of the ghost moving his stuff around again. Around 2:30am he heard it. The sound of scuffling around in the kitchen. Takaki tiptoed quietly down the hallway and then peeked into kitchen. The ghost was in there rearranging his cereal boxes into a something resembling a house of cards. Takaki watched him for a few minutes. The ghost looked to be around his age, a twenty-something year old boy. He had messy black hair that looked like it had maybe needed a bit of a trim when the boy was alive. He was dressed in a comfy-looking pair of cargo pants and an old T-shirt, but he wasn’t wearing any shoes, just like any other ghost Takaki had seen in the past. The ghost was smiling, amused by his task, like he couldn’t wait to see how Takaki was going to react.

“Excuse me,” Takaki finally spoke up from the doorway.

The ghost looked up from his work. “Crap,” he said, freezing in his tracks. 

“Why are you moving all my stuff around?” Takaki asked even though he knew the answer. He took a few steps forward and assumed the most intimidating pose he could think of. But in his pajamas, Takaki knew he probably didn’t look all that scary.

The ghost looked around the kitchen to make sure they were the only ones there. “Oh, you can see me?” 

Takaki crossed his arms and nodded.

“Man,” the ghost pouted, “that ruins all the fun. You’re not supposed to be able to see me. Um… go back to bed!” he waved his arms around a bit, trying to look all ghostly and mysterious. “This is all just a dream!”

“Can you just put my cereal back and stop moving all my stuff?”

“I’m a ghost, you know. Why aren’t you completely terrified?” the ghost asked, moving closer to examine Takaki. He stood toe to toe in front of him and narrowed his eyes in confusion. Takaki took a step back. “Is there something wrong with you?” the ghost continued.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Takaki said. He was really getting annoyed with the ghost who only seemed to care that his prank had been interrupted. “I’ve always been able to see ghosts.”

“Huh. Well that’s absolutely no fun. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Put my cereal away,” Takaki said, pointing to the table. “And then leave.”

“I can’t leave!” the ghost protested. “I’m haunting this place. I can’t just wander away. It’s against the rules!”

“What rules?”

“The ghost rules!” he said as if this was obviously common knowledge. “I don’t know. Something like that. I’m sure there are rules involved somehow. All I know is that I can’t go anywhere. So you’re just going to have to deal with it.” He pouted again. “And appreciate my artwork.” He pointed to the sculpture of cereal boxes on the table as if they were the Mona Lisa.

“I didn’t want a roommate when I moved in here,” Takaki said. 

“Aw, don’t be like that,” the ghost said, putting a smile on his face. “I can be a great roommate! I’m soooo bored here by myself. The last people who lived here were old people and they had no sense of humor whatsoever.”

Takaki just sighed and threw up his hands in exasperation. He was so tired that he was just hoping all this actually would be a dream when he woke up in the morning. “I’m going to bed. Just put my cereal away.” He turned to walk back to his bedroom but stopped as he saw the ghost had reappeared in front of him.

He held out his semi-transparent hand. “Let’s do this properly. My name is Inoo Kei. Nice to meet you.” He smiled brightly.

Maybe it was his persistence, he wasn’t too sure, but Takaki stood there for only a moment and then hesitantly reached his own hand out too even though he couldn’t actually touch the ghost. “Takaki Yuya,” he said. 

***

Takaki quickly realized that Inoo Kei was nothing like any of the ghosts he had seen growing up. Inoo was cheerful and bright, always wanting to chat about something. He was bouncy too, like he had entirely too much energy for a dead person. 

“Tell me all about yourself,” Inoo said the next morning when Takaki woke up. He was leaning over Takaki’s bed as his alarm went off. Takaki took one look at him, groaned, and then rolled back over. 

“Noooo, wake up,” Inoo whined, using whatever ability his ghostly form gave him to pull back the covers. “I have been waiting all night to talk to you.” 

“Here’s all you need to know about me,” Takaki began, while he pulled the covers back over himself. “I’m not a people person.”

“Good thing I’m a ghost then!” Inoo said, completely un-phased by Takaki’s lack of enthusiasm. But he seemed to understand that Takaki wasn’t exactly a morning person either, so he disappeared for a while after that. 

Inoo reappeared again when Takaki was out on the beach, watching the waves wash in and out.

“I can tell you all about myself instead,” Inoo said, suddenly standing beside Takaki from out of nowhere. Startled, Takaki took a few steps to put some space between them. He didn’t know how long Inoo had been dead but it was apparently long enough to forget about things like _personal space._

“I grew up in that house,” Inoo began since Takaki still hadn’t said anything. He pointed to the cottage behind them just in case there was any confusion. “I used to play piano really well. I was at the top of my class in school. I still think seagulls are the most evil of all birds.” He paused to look up and see if there were any seagulls flying overhead. “And I died _tragically._ ” He flourished his hands for dramatic emphasis.

“Hm,” Takaki hummed in response, not taking his eyes off the calming motion of the waves.

“That’s all you’re going to say?” Inoo asked. His eyebrows drew close together as that familiar pout reappeared on his face. “ _Hm?_ Really?” 

“Guess so.” What was he supposed to say to that?

Inoo let out an exaggerated sigh. “You’re absolutely no fun at all.” But he shrugged without any real concern. “Well I can fix that. Eventually.” He nodded to himself as he made the decision. 

Takaki glanced over at Inoo with a look of disbelief before turning back to look out over the ocean waves, pretending that he hadn’t really been bothered. Inoo looked a little curious at this response but said nothing for a few minutes.

“Do you want to guess how I died?” Inoo finally asked with entirely too much cheer. He was apparently unable to stand silence for very long.

“Pecked to death by seagulls,” Takaki said dryly and then turned to walk back to the house. He had to get ready for work. 

Inoo watched him go. “That’s a terrible guess. Not nearly tragic enough!”

***

Takaki didn’t hate his job at the café but he didn’t like it much either. He had been telling the truth when he told Inoo he wasn’t a people person. Takaki never knew what to talk about, never seemed to have any shared common ground, never could connect with anyone. As he waited tables at the little café, he did the minimum required. He got his work done so no one would complain but he never went out of his way to do anything extra. 

It was slow this afternoon so Takaki was busy wiping down tables. They weren’t really dirty but it was busy work to keep his hands moving. On the other side of the café, his coworkers, Nakajima Yuto and Okamoto Keito, were rearranging the menus and the display by the cash register. They were chatting happily amongst themselves. From what Takaki could tell in the few weeks he’d been at this job, they’d been friends for a while. They always had something to talk about.

“I promise you,” Yuto said, waving his arms around in excitement, “he looked exactly like Johnny Depp.” 

Keito laughed as Yuto’s arm flailing knocked over the stack of menus they had just put together. “No way,” he said, picking them back up. “Why would Johnny Depp be here?”

“Maybe he’s filming a movie,” Yuto mused. “It could happen!”

“Very unlikely,” Keito said. 

Takaki said nothing even though he could hear every word of their conversation. He felt like he shouldn’t interrupt. The topic wandered into a discussion of Johnny Depp’s greatest movies, punctuated by Yuto’s and Keito’s laughter every now and then. They sounded like they were having fun.

Takaki focused on the table, silently scrubbing the grime away with intense precision.

***

Inoo was waiting for Takaki in the kitchen when he got home that night. He had a cookbook sitting out on the table and he was floating in eager anticipation by the refrigerator. 

“Welcome home, roomie,” he said, spreading his arms wide. There was a bright smile on his face as he waved hello to Takaki. “I’ve got a dinner suggestion for you.” He pointed to the cookbook, hoping to be helpful. 

“I got takeout,” Takaki said, holding up a fast food bag. He intended that to be the only bit of conversation he would have with the ghost for the rest of the night. Setting the food on the table, he picked up the cookbook and put it away in one of the cabinets. He was tired and all he wanted to do was maybe some evening fishing after dinner. 

Being slightly disappointed, Inoo sank down a little until he was standing on the kitchen floor. He tapped his bare toes on the linoleum as he observed Takaki who took his takeout to the living room without a word. 

“You really don’t talk much, do you?” Inoo said, reappearing beside Takaki on the couch. The evening news was playing on the TV but Takaki hadn’t been paying much attention. It was more like background noise. 

“Nope,” Takaki said. He picked up a few French fries and tried to pretend like he was interested in the news. 

“Listen,” Inoo began in a tone more serious than before, “I know you don’t like me. I know you want to hide away here in this house and completely ignore everybody. Which is kind of dumb but whatever.” Takaki turned to watch him while he ranted. He waved his arms around, reminding him a bit of Yuto. “But I haven’t had anyone to talk to in _twenty years._ I’m sorry to bother you but I have been so bored all by myself. I would leave if I could but I’m stuck here. So you’re stuck with me.” 

Takaki couldn’t meet Inoo’s eyes after that. He scratched his head, not knowing what to say. His food lay forgotten on the coffee table. There was just something in Inoo’s voice that he couldn’t ignore. A bit of loneliness, perhaps, that he knew all too well. “I just…” Takaki began tentatively, “I just don’t really know how to deal with people. What to talk about and stuff. I’ve never been good at it. It’s just easier to be by myself. That’s all.” He blurted that all out without pausing to think, as if he couldn’t stop once he started. Takaki looked away, feeling sort of embarrassed for admitting that stuff.

Inoo gave Takaki a gentle, understanding smile. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Just listening is enough. For now.” 

Takaki nodded slowly and picked his up food again. Inoo, realizing that they had come to some sort of truce, broke out into a huge grin and leaned back on the couch in triumph, except he forgot that he was a ghost and fell right through. Takaki rolled his eyes. 

“It’d be nice if you’d stop moving my stuff around,” Takaki added, but he didn’t feel too annoyed about it anymore. 

Inoo floated around so that he was hovering over the coffee table now. “Hmm, I suppose I should take your fishing poles off the roof then,” he said, trying very hard not to smirk.

“And _why_ are they on the roof in the first place?”

Inoo shrugged. “I thought we could play something like hide and seek later. I don’t know. I just like rearranging stuff.” He put his best innocent face on. “If I hadn’t died so tragically, I could have had a fantastic career as an interior decorator! Want to take another guess at my cause of death?”

“Inhaled too many paint fumes?” Takaki said and picked up the remainders of his dinner to throw in the trash. He didn’t even wait for a response.

Inoo scrunched up his face. “Again with the terrible guess! You really suck at this game. Not nearly tragic enough!” He glided off after Takaki, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

***

The two of them settled into a routine after that night when they had reached some sort of unspoken understanding between them both. Takaki still didn’t say very much but he listened to Inoo just as he’d asked him to, and in return, Inoo didn’t move stuff around as pranks anymore. At least, not as much as before. Takaki found that it was easy to make Inoo happy if he found things for him to do. He’d leave the TV on when he’d go to work (according to Inoo’s “ghost rules” he couldn’t turn the TV on or off but he was able to change the channels) and he would also bring back new books for Inoo to read (Inoo was trying to learn a new language while Takaki slept at night). 

“I am so proud of you!” Inoo declared as he watched Takaki cast his fishing line out into the waves. Takaki was about knee deep in the water, swaying slightly as the waves pushed him back and forth. Inoo stood further back on the shore where the waves met the sand. His ghostly body tapered off into nothingness around his ankles, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Please stop,” Takaki said, “you sound like my mother.”

“But this is a big deal!” Inoo continued. “You’re going out tonight. To socialize with people. This is a big deal!” he repeated. Takaki couldn’t see Inoo from this angle but he was sure the ghost was waving his arms around as he said this.

Thinking he had a fish bite, Takaki began to reel the line in, but he discovered it was empty when he pulled it up. “It’s just dinner with Yamada. Just dinner and then I am coming home.”

Inoo completely ignored this and then gleefully clapped his hands together. “I’m going to go pick out clothes for you to wear.” He disappeared and Takaki just rolled his eyes to the sky with a _why me_ look while he cast the line out again. He hoped Inoo didn’t pick out something ridiculous.

***

The clothes Inoo picked out were actually terrible choices that didn’t even match. Inoo had pretended to be upset for a bit as Takaki pulled out a decent shirt and pants, but then finally admitted that he knew basically nothing about fashion. But judging by how all the people in this club were dressed, Takaki observed, fashionable clothes weren’t really the thing that mattered here.

After dinner with Yamada, Takaki had somehow been forced to accompany his friend to a nightclub. Yamada had promised to introduce him to his friend Arioka Daiki, and Takaki had agreed only because he was trying to make an effort to be friendlier. The effort would make Inoo happy, he told himself. But after the quick exchange of _nice to meet you’_ s, Yamada and Daiki disappeared onto the dance floor, leaving Takaki at a side table to watch the collective, drunken movements of the dancers. He had absolutely no desire to join the fray.

Takaki was about to leave, knowing that Yamada would never notice, when someone suddenly sat down in the other chair at his table. The guy had a nice smile and high cheekbones that made his eyes almost disappear. He was saying something but the loud music swallowed up his voice.

Takaki leaned closer. “I’m sorry, what?” He pointed to his ear to emphasize that he hadn’t heard anything. 

“You look bored,” the guy repeated louder, leaning forward over the table as well.

“I am,” Takaki replied. He was already tired from half-shouting. “I was about to leave.” He pointed to the door.

“Me too,” the guy said, standing up. 

It felt much better to be out in the fresh air even though the temperature had dropped a bit since Takaki had arrived with Yamada earlier. He stopped by the edge of the parking lot and took a deep breath just to enjoy the slightly salty air again.

“Ah, my head feels much better,” the guy said as he massaged his ears. “I don’t know how anyone can stand that for very long.”

“Yeah,” Takaki agreed. He didn’t know what else to say. 

“Oh, I’m being rude,” the guy continued and then held out his hand. “I’m Yabu Kota. Nice to meet you.”

Takaki reached out and shook his hand politely. “Takaki Yuya,” he answered, brief as usual.

“My friend dragged me here,” Yabu explained, “but all I really wanted to do tonight was watch a soccer game. Ah, that reminds me…” He patted his pockets for a minute before pulling out his cell phone. “I wonder what the score is.” As he tapped the screen, he looked back up at Takaki. “Do you come here often?”

“First time,” Takaki said. “My friend dragged me along against my will too.” 

Yabu laughed, and the gesture made his eyes disappear completely for a moment. “So we’re in the same boat then, huh?” He glanced back at his phone and frowned. “Aw man, they lost. Oh well.” He put his phone away again. “Hey, do you like soccer?”

Takaki was pretty sure the last time he had even played soccer was in elementary school, and he’d basically forgotten about the sport since then. “Uh, well…” he began. Yamada would know what to say in this situation. Inoo would know what to say. Why couldn’t he figure out how to answer a simple question? “I really don’t know much about it,” he finally managed to get some words out. 

Yabu’s eyes lit up. “I could tell you all about it. Soccer is a really fun sport and it’s so global. It’s really cool to follow teams all around the world.” He suddenly stopped speaking, and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry, I can get carried away sometimes. All my friends are always saying _there he goes again with the soccer talk_ whenever I get started. You’re probably not interested at all.” He nervously laughed a bit. 

“I don’t mind,” Takaki said. He was getting used to listening to Inoo ramble about stuff, so if talking about soccer made Yabu happy, Takaki really didn’t mind. He sort of liked when Yabu smiled.

Looking very happy, Yabu pulled his phone back out and quickly tapped at the screen. After a moment, he turned the screen so Takaki could see it too. “Here’s my favorite team,” he said. “They’re having a rough season since the leading scorer fractured his ankle in their first game, but the other players have really stepped up their game in his absence.” He tapped the screen a few more times so that Takaki could see a few more pictures of the team. 

Takaki thought he might be bored with all the soccer information, but he found himself strangely enthralled by Yabu’s enthusiasm for the topic. It didn’t matter that they were still standing out in the cold air by the edge of the parking lot. He didn’t even realize how late it was getting.

“Kota! I’ve been looking all over for you,” a voice called out, interrupting Yabu from explaining the different player positions on the soccer field. They both looked up to see a guy about their age walking towards them.

“Ah, that’s my friend Hikaru,” Yabu explained. 

Hikaru just gave Takaki a polite nod before turning to Yabu. “I’ve got to go home,” he said. “You ready?” 

Yabu sighed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Takaki checked his watch and was stunned to see how late it was. He could only imagine what Inoo would say when he got home. “I’ve got to go home too,” Takaki said and then added to himself, “or I’ll never hear the end of it from my roommate.” 

Hikaru started walking away, presumably to his car or a taxi or something, but Yabu hung back for a moment. “Thanks for letting me ramble.”

“I liked it,” Takaki admitted honestly. 

“I’ll see you around then?” Yabu said.

Takaki nodded and Yabu’s eyes disappeared in another one of his amazing smiles.

“Kou!” Hikaru called out from halfway across the parking lot. “We’ve got to go!”

Takaki watched Yabu as he jogged off to catch up with his friend. Afterwards, he realized he was standing in the parking lot alone and he really needed to head home. But he was surprised that he hadn’t actually had a bad night out. It was kind of a strange feeling, but he liked it. 

***

Inoo appeared just as soon as Takaki unlocked the back door. In the reflection of the porch light he looked positively giddy. This probably meant that he’d messed with his stuff again while he was out. Sure enough, when Takaki flipped the lights on, he saw a bunch of his fishing hooks were hanging from the kitchen window curtain. Inoo looked like he was going to burst in excitement waiting for Takaki’s response. He was rocking back and forth on his toes with his hands clasped together.

Takaki just sighed. “Contrary to what you may think,” he said, “you would have been a terrible interior decorator.”

Inoo laughed. “You just don’t appreciate avant garde.” 

Takaki decided to leave the fish hooks for the morning since it was so late. He wandered to his bedroom and Inoo disappeared long enough to give him privacy to change clothes. When Inoo reappeared, sitting on Takaki’s bed, he had on a smile mirroring the Cheshire Cat’s in _Alice in Wonderland_. Takaki half-heartedly tried to shoo Inoo off the bed but his arms just went right through him.

“So…” Inoo began.

“So what?” Takaki said, pretending to be oblivious. If he couldn’t get Inoo to give him his space, he certainly wasn’t going to make this conversation easy for him. It was Takaki’s own teasing revenge for all of Inoo’s pranks.

“So what happened to ‘just dinner and then I’m coming home’?”

Takaki crawled under his bed covers and got comfortable before explaining briefly how his night had gone. When Takaki got to the part about meeting Yabu, Inoo noticed that there was something different in his voice. An interest that hadn’t been there before. 

“You have to tell me all about him,” Inoo insisted. 

“I just did. He likes soccer,” Takaki said, as if this was really the only important thing.

“But what about where he works? Where he went to school? How old is he? Who are his parents? What’s his favorite food? How does he feel about seagulls?”

“Why would I know any of that?” 

“You’re right,” Inoo said. “I forgot who I was talking to. I bet you didn’t even get his phone number, did you?”

Takaki rolled over on his side so his back was to Inoo. “…no,” he finally admitted.

Inoo snorted and Takaki wished briefly that Inoo wasn’t a ghost so he could give him a good whack on the side of his head. There was silence after that for a while and Takaki guessed that Inoo might have wandered off to read. Takaki was almost drifting off to sleep when he heard Inoo’s voice again, but this time, much quieter than usual.

“After I died,” Inoo began, and Takaki had to strain to hear him, “my parents decided they couldn’t live in this house anymore, and they packed up everything and left. They had no idea I was here watching everything. At the time, I didn’t know the ghost rules. I didn’t know I could interact with the environment if I concentrated hard enough. Sometimes I wonder if I could have done something to let them know I was here, to make them stay.” 

Takaki rolled back over to face Inoo to show that he was still awake and listening, but he didn’t say anything to interrupt Inoo’s confession. 

“The house stayed empty for the next five years,” Inoo continued. “And I think I might have gone a little crazy during that time. I was so lonely. Eventually an old couple bought the house and moved in, but they only stayed during the summer. And then they sold the house to some more old people. But none of them could see me. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“I… think so.”

“I was so unbelievably happy when I found out you could see me and talk to me. It’s been a long twenty years all alone. Honestly, it was miserable. I didn’t realize how much I needed people until I didn’t have any at all.” Inoo stopped and took a deep breath to keep his composure before speaking again. “What I’m trying to say is that, right now, you might think it’s easier to cut yourself off from people because you don’t want to deal with them. But eventually you’ll change your mind, but by then, it might be too late.” 

Takaki felt a touch of coldness on his shoulder and realized that Inoo had placed his hand there for a friendly pat. It was the closest he could come to touching people.

“So I’m proud of you for trying to make friends tonight,” Inoo blurted out suddenly with the words almost running together as they spilled out of his mouth. He was strangely embarrassed it seemed for getting so emotional. “Going to go read now. Okay goodnight.” And he disappeared quickly.

Takaki closed his eyes and pulled the covers up to his chin. It was so quiet that he could hear the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the shore outside. Never stopping. Always moving, moving, moving. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought that maybe he needed to get back into motion again. One push in the right direction couldn’t hurt.

***

“Yuto, just what are you doing with those muffins?” 

Takaki listened as Keito scolded Yuto for attempting to juggle a few of the discarded burnt muffins they couldn’t sell. The two of them were lively as usual. Yuto had been bouncing around the café all morning long. There were only two customers in the place at the moment, so Takaki took the opportunity to clean out the coffeemakers while he had a chance. His mind wandered as he washed the equipment, tuning out Keito’s voice as he continued to complain to Yuto about the wasted muffins that he had apparently intended to eat. 

Takaki thought back to when he had left the house this morning. Inoo had been floating on the porch as Takaki locked the door. 

“You should take an umbrella,” he’d said. “It’s going to rain today.”

Takaki looked up at the sky which was clear blue as far as his eyes could see. “You sure about that? The forecast was for sunny weather.” He put his keys into his pocket. 

“I can just feel it,” Inoo said. “Ghost rules, I guess?” The ‘ghost rules’ were always Inoo’s go-to explanation for anything he really couldn’t explain. They didn’t make much sense but Takaki supposed that life after death didn’t come with a how-to manual and Inoo was just doing the best that he could. 

“I’ll go get your umbrella,” Inoo said and floated through the wall back into the house. Takaki waited patiently, wondering how Inoo was going to get a solid object like his umbrella back through the wall. Another moment and he heard a muffled _thump_ on the ground behind him. Turning around, he saw his umbrella lying in the sand. He went to pick it up and looked to see Inoo grinning and waving to him from the upstairs guest room window. Takaki supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised that Inoo had just casually tossed the umbrella out the window.

“Have an excellent day! Don’t be late for work. See you later!” Inoo called out.

It was a nice feeling, Takaki considered later, to know that someone was waiting for him to come home. Maybe he would stop at the bookstore on his way home and buy a new book for Inoo. He glanced out the front window of the café and noticed that it had suddenly started raining. 

“Aw, man,” Yuto complained, watching the rain begin to come down in droves. Their only two customers had left earlier, leaving them alone in the café. “I rode my bike to work today.” 

“It should clear up before you go home since you’re the one closing tonight,” Keito said. 

“Double shifts suck. Don’t remind me,” Yuto said. He laid his head down on one of the tables. 

“You can borrow my umbrella if you want,” Takaki said hesitantly. He tossed his dirty rag into the sink in an attempt to look nonchalant about the offer, and then looked around the room for something else to clean. 

“Thanks Takaki,” Yuto said, lifting his head up off the table just enough to show he was smiling and appreciated the offer. “But you might need it more than me. Your shift’s almost over and I’m stuck here for another six hours.” He groaned and laid his head back down with a loud _thunk_ that shook the table. “Ouch,” he muttered. Keito rolled his eyes as he took another batch of muffins out of the oven.

The bell on the front door jingled, startling Yuto so much that he sprang straight up and shouted “Welcome!!” with so much enthusiasm that he fell out of his chair. Keito tried to cover up his laughter by holding his oven mitt in front of his face. Takaki tore his eyes away from his coworkers to see who’d walked in. He nearly dropped the coffee cups he was holding when he saw who it was.

“Oh hello,” Yabu Kota said, closing the door behind him. He had obviously been caught in the sudden downpour, but he didn’t seem to mind that raindrops were dripping off of him and pooling on the floor. “We meet again, Takaki. I didn’t know you worked here.” His eyes disappeared with his friendly smile and Takaki put the coffee cups safely down on the counter because he didn’t trust himself to hold them for much longer.

“Yeah,” Takaki nodded. “Looks like you got caught in the rain.” 

_That was a completely dumb thing to say_ , Takaki internally berated himself. He was so bad at conversation. Maybe he would just let Yabu do the talking.

“The rain was really unexpected,” Yabu admitted. He walked up to the cash register Takaki was standing behind and leaned one arm against the counter. “I just ducked in here to keep from getting completely soaked. But it’s lucky that I ran into you here. I rushed off so suddenly from the club the other night, I didn’t get any of your contact information.” He laughed. “I’m kinda scatterbrained like that sometimes.”

Takaki nodded. “Me too,” he said even though he really wasn’t that bad at remembering things. He picked up the washrag again and tried to casually wipe up the water Yabu was dripping onto the counter.

Takaki could hear Yuto whispering to Keito somewhere in the background. “Takaki goes to clubs?”

“Stop eavesdropping,” Keito whispered back.

“Ouch, you have such bony elbows,” Yuto responded. “That was so unnecessary.” 

Takaki could hear the door to the store room open and close, presumably as Keito dragged Yuto back there so that he and Yabu could chat in peace. Currently, Yabu was lost in thought, eyes narrowed, as he scrutinized the menu for something to order. 

“Do you have a recommendation?” he asked. 

“I make a pretty good chai tea latte,” Takaki admitted. His coffee-making skills had improved considerably since he had taken this job, and even more so after their boss had banned Yuto from using the coffee maker two weeks ago because he kept knocking things over. 

“Sounds good to me,” Yabu said. 

Takaki fixed the drink in silence, feeling a little nervous since he could feel Yabu watching him. He tried to think of something to talk about but everything he could think of seemed dumb. His anxious thoughts were interrupted though by Yabu as he handed him his drink.

“Do you work here every day?” he asked.

“Ah, no,” Takaki answered. He handed Yabu his change and a receipt for his purchase. “I work part-time at the surf shop a few blocks down too.” He heard a crash come from the back room, meaning that Yuto had probably accidentally knocked over something again. “So, uh, where do you work?”

Yabu sat down at a table close to the front counter and gestured for Takaki to join him. Since there were no other customers, he did. “I’m the P.E. teacher and the soccer coach at the high school,” Yabu answered. “This is excellent, by the way,” he added, pointing to his drink. 

Somehow, Takaki did not find it surprising that Yabu had a job that would allow him to incorporate his love of soccer. It seemed perfect for him. Takaki listened for a while as Yabu told him all about his students and some crazy things that happened week to week at the school. 

“Hey Takaki,” Keito called out, interrupting the conversation as he and Yuto came out from the store room, “your shift ended five minutes ago.” 

“Oops,” Yabu said, “I was rambling again.” 

“It’s no problem,” Takaki said, standing up. He untied the apron wrapped around his waist and placed it behind the counter. 

“Don’t forget your umbrella,” Yuto said. He picked up the umbrella and held it out.

Takaki hesitated before taking it from his outstretched hand. “You sure you don’t need it?” 

“It’s still raining now and you walked to work, didn’t you?” Yuto explained. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“Thanks.”

Yuto laughed and picked up a few of the burnt muffins. “Don’t thank me. It’s your umbrella.” He began trying to juggle the burnt muffins again before Keito snatched them away. 

“Stop it,” Keito complained. “I was going to eat those.”

Takaki turned to Yabu. “I’m… going to the bookstore if you want to join me?” he asked. “I’ve got an umbrella,” he added for good measure even though Yabu was still soaked from before he came into the café.

Yabu smiled one of those full smiles. “Sure.” 

They walked in the direction of the bookstore slowly since Takaki was having trouble holding the umbrella at the right angle so that it would cover both of them and not accidentally poke either one of them in the face. But it was okay since they weren’t in a rush and it gave them more time to talk.

“Do you play any sports?” Yabu asked. 

The umbrella drifted to the side as Takaki thought about his answer. He didn’t notice until raindrops began falling on his head. “Does fishing count as a sport?” he finally said while straightening the umbrella back up. He really couldn’t think of anything else.

Yabu laughed at his answer. “Sure, why not?” Yabu looked at him expectantly like he was waiting for Takaki to explain more, but Takaki didn’t know what else there was to say. He enjoyed fishing but wasn’t passionate about it like Yabu was for soccer. Were there even famous fishermen to follow like soccer teams? How did stuff like that work? He had no clue.

“I think we’re at the bookstore,” Yabu said, breaking Takaki from his musings on the differences between fishing and soccer. Takaki stopped walking and saw that Yabu was pointing to the door. 

“So it would seem,” Takaki said, feeling rather embarrassed, as they both stepped under the awning. He shook the rain off of his umbrella and closed it up. It looked like the rainstorm would be over soon.

“You totally just zoned out on me,” Yabu said. He sounded amused about it though. 

“It happens,” Takaki admitted.

“So are we looking for something in particular?” Yabu asked as they stepped inside. The rows of shelves stretched out like endless waves on the beach, full of possibilities. 

Takaki motioned for Yabu to follow him to the section on foreign languages. “Yeah, I’m looking for something for my roommate. He’s got this crazy idea that he’s going to learn a bunch of different languages. He gave up on Chinese last week though because he said it was too hard. But he might appreciate a book on Spanish, I think.” Takaki wondered briefly whether it was a good idea to refer to Inoo as his roommate or not. But the words slipped out before he had a chance to properly think them through. 

Time passed by quicker than expected as the two of them combed through the book shelves. Each new discovery was like finding a colorful seashell buried in the sand. Takaki discovered that the longer they were together, the easier it was for him to talk to Yabu. After snickering together over a dirty Hungarian phrasebook, Takaki didn’t feel as worried over what he should talk about. His initial embarrassment was rapidly dissolving away. 

“I think I’ve finally decided on this one,” Takaki said, holding up a book on Spanish grammar rules. It seemed like it would be useful. “Are you getting anything?”

Yabu grinned and held up the Hungarian book from earlier. “I’m totally getting this for Hikaru. It’ll be worth it just for his reaction.” 

“Let me know how that goes,” Takaki said with a genuine smile. 

When they exited the bookstore, the rain had indeed cleared up, leaving everything glittering slightly in the sunlight. The two of them went their separate ways but agreed to meet again soon. Takaki began walking back to his house, thinking back on his afternoon with Yabu. Without noticing it at first, he soon realized he had a smile on his face. He wondered briefly if he looked silly walking down the road with a probably goofy-looking smile, but then decided that he didn’t care. 

***

“Oh my goooooosh! Girl, don’t run him over with the car! You can’t go to prison with a baby on the way!” 

Takaki narrowed his eyes in confusion while taking his shoes off by the back door, and then shut the door slowly. He probably didn’t even want to know what Inoo was watching on TV right now.

“Oh my gooooooosh!” Inoo repeated louder.

Takaki walked into the living room and saw Inoo hovering over the coffee table with his hands pressed against his cheeks in distress. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

“I’m home,” Takaki announced because he was sure Inoo hadn’t noticed.

“How can that be the end of the episode?? Won’t somebody think of the baby??” Inoo cried, leaning closer towards the TV. And then suddenly he turned around and greeted Takaki with a huge smile. “Welcome home!”

Takaki had to admit the abrupt change of mood was slightly disturbing but he was getting more used to Inoo’s quirks every day. He held out the book he’d purchased so Inoo could see it. “A thank you present,” he explained and set it on the table by Inoo’s bare feet. 

“Thanks!” Inoo said, scooping up the book to examine it. “But thanks for what?”

Takaki just shrugged and settled down on the couch. “For the umbrella, I suppose. I met Yabu again today, by chance, and it came in handy when we walked to the bookstore.” He didn’t want to admit that the book was a thank-you-for-being-my-friend kind of gift. 

“Yabu, huh? Did you discuss more than soccer this time?”

Takaki nodded. He wondered whether he should get up and go fix dinner. Lunch seemed like so long ago and he hadn’t had a chance to snag one of the burnt muffins from the café earlier. Perhaps he should go check the fridge. Grocery shopping had been last week, and so there might not be much to cook with in the house.

“…a destiny you can’t deny,” Inoo was saying.

“What?” Takaki said, just realizing that he’d zoned out again and completely missed whatever Inoo was rambling about.

“I said meeting Yabu again was really lucky. Like a destiny you can’t deny.”

“I think you’ve been watching too many soap operas.” 

Inoo just grinned with smugness, like he knew something Takaki did not. Takaki was about to ask about it but a knock on his back door interrupted them. Startled, Inoo jumped up from the coffee table. 

“You have a visitor!” Inoo said. “Now is the time for me to make my dramatic exit before anyone discovers I’m here.” He floated over towards the window.

“No one can see you but me,” Takaki pointed out. 

“No, no,” Inoo insisted, waving his arms dismissively. “I’ll escape out the window and shimmy down the drain pipe.”

“We’re on the first floor.”

“Don’t ruin my moment!” Inoo hissed, already halfway through the window. 

Takaki rolled his eyes and walked to the back door in the kitchen to see who was there. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he really wasn’t expecting it to be Yamada. He motioned for Yamada to come in and then shut the door.

“See?” Yamada began. He shuffled his shoes off quickly by the doorway. “I told you I was going to come visit sometime. The house is nice.”

“Thanks.” Takaki busied himself looking through the fridge and the cabinets for something to offer Yamada. But just as he’d expected, there wasn’t much in the way of food. He really should have gone grocery shopping earlier. 

“I guess your imaginary ghost left?” Yamada said with a laugh. He had already made himself comfortable at the kitchen table.

“Sure,” Takaki said, closing the last cabinet with a sigh. “He just tried to shimmy down the drain pipe outside because he’s got a flair for the dramatic. Who knows where he is right now.” He rolled his eyes and saw that Yamada was frowning at him. 

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” Yamada said. 

Takaki pulled a chair out and sat down at the table too. “What does it matter? You don’t believe me anyway.” He could understand that Yamada had never seen a ghost before, but his refusal to even consider the possibility was beginning to frustrate Takaki. It was almost like Yamada didn’t trust him.

Yamada ignored Takaki’s comment and tried to change the subject. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. “You need to come hang out with me more. I worry about you, stuck here by yourself all the time.” 

These words really struck a nerve with Takaki. “But I’m not _stuck here._ ” The words began to come out like a flood before he could stop them. “I chose this house, and I chose to live like this. I’m not unhappy and no one is forcing me to be like this. I _do_ get out and see people. And I actually do have friends other than you, believe it or not. And _none_ of them are imaginary despite what you may think. You and I have been friends for two years but _you don’t understand me one bit._ ” 

The silence spread through the kitchen like a wildfire and neither one of them said anything to interrupt it. Thinking back now, Takaki considered that that might have been the most he’d ever said to Yamada at one time. Why had he never said anything before? Why did he always let Yamada do all the talking? It was amazing how much Takaki had changed in the short time since he had met Inoo.

Yamada stood up slowly. “I think… maybe I should go.” 

Takaki watched Yamada as he quickly slipped his shoes back on and then slammed the door shut behind him. He thought that he should say something, but his words were all spent up and it was too late now. He rested his head in his hands for a few minutes as he began to feel horrible about what he had said. He really was bad with people. Yamada thought that he was helping him, he knew that. Takaki felt that he probably shouldn’t have gotten so angry. When his wrists finally started to hurt from the weight of his head, he decided that he should probably go look for Inoo.

He found the ghost on the beach, chasing little ghost crabs around like a little kid. Thinking that he shouldn’t disturb his fun, Takaki just sat down on the sand dune and watched, but Inoo soon noticed him sitting there. 

“You look upset,” Inoo observed as he reappeared beside Takaki on the sand. Inoo’s eyes were wide with concern and he leaned forward, getting much too close to his personal space like usual.

“Yamada and I had a fight… I guess,” Takaki said quietly. When asked for more details, he explained everything to Inoo who listened intently, nodding his head every now and then. 

“Why do I always say dumb things?” Takaki concluded. He watched a tiny ghost crab scuttle by his feet. Inoo stuck his foot out to stop the creature but, of course, it went right through his transparent body without even slowing down. 

“Life is not a well-scripted movie,” Inoo answered. “It’s not even a poorly-scripted movie. You can’t sit down and plan out every single word you’re going to say. That’s why the word ‘sorry’ was invented. If you feel bad about it, apologize to him in the morning.”

Takaki nodded. His toes were sinking into the cold sand. 

“But I don’t think you were wrong.”

“Hm?” 

“I don’t think what you said was wrong,” Inoo repeated. “You and Yamada are both on different wavelengths, just passing parallel to each other.” Inoo demonstrated with his hands. “Yamada doesn’t seem to understand introverts. And you never talk. So, of course, he doesn’t understand. You never explained it to him before.”

“Oh.” Takaki pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on one. “Sometimes you say some good things.”

Inoo pretended to be offended briefly but he couldn’t hide his happiness at the backhanded compliment for long. “Well I’ve had a long time to think about everything. Relationships always work two ways. And apparently, your friendship with Yamada has been lopsided for a while. But now that you both know that, maybe you can work it out and finally get on the same wavelength.” Inoo couldn’t resist illustrating the motion with his hands again. His long fingers imitated waves crashing together.

Takaki nodded again. Everything seemed to make more sense when he talked it over with Inoo. He shifted again and picked up a few bits of broken seashells that had been washed onto the beach and left behind far from the waves. They were surprisingly cold to the touch. Inoo just tilted his head back and watched the starry sky. They remained like that in a comfortable silence until Takaki’s cell phone beeped, startling them both.

“Do you have to carry your tiny phone with you all the time?” Inoo complained, holding a hand to his chest like he was trying to catch the breath he didn’t have any more. Inoo had missed some technological advances in the past twenty years, including cell phones. He hadn’t quite gotten used to the idea of a portable telephone yet.

“Honestly, I forgot it was in my pocket,” Takaki admitted as he dug the phone out. He tapped the screen and saw that he had three text messages from Yabu. The first two were photos that made him laugh out loud and the last message was text only, and it made him smile.

“What is it?” Inoo asked. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he leaned so close to Takaki that he was slightly concerned that his arm might go numb from the cold presence.

Takaki tilted the screen so that Inoo could see. “Yabu bought a book for his friend as a joke and he just sent me a photo of his reaction.” 

The first photo was captioned _Hikaru’s initial response_. Takaki recognized the face of Yabu’s friend from the club despite the fact that it looked all scrunched up in perplexed confusion at the sight of the dirty Hungarian phrasebook. The second text said _and this is what he’s doing now_ and contained a slightly blurry photo of Hikaru from a distance with his nose buried in the book, completely oblivious to his surroundings. 

Inoo nodded but he didn’t exactly understand what was so funny. “You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh.” 

Takaki paused to consider that and figured Inoo was probably right. 

“It’s nice,” Inoo said. “You should do it more often.” He stood up and made a show of stretching his arms even though things like stiff muscles were meaningless to a ghost. “I think I’m going to read my new book now. Good night!” And he disappeared before Takaki could say anything else. 

Takaki got his phone back out and pulled up the last text he had received from Yabu. He couldn’t help but smile again at the words. 

_Thanks for sharing your umbrella today. I want to see you again soon._

Takaki typed out a quick response and put his phone away. He wanted to see Yabu again too. It was a strange feeling, he decided, because he couldn’t remember ever willingly trying to spend time with someone. He couldn’t think of a time in the past when he didn’t want to be alone. He had been going through life thinking it would just be easier without others, but he was beginning to think Yabu might possibly be worth the effort. Maybe.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he never actually got dinner, so Takaki went back inside to order take-out. 

Things were changing. Just like the shifting sands outside being pushed and pulled by the tide.

***

Since the weather was getting warmer, it had been an exceptionally busy day at the surf shop where Takaki also worked. People were constantly stopping in to buy little necessities for their fun in the sun. It felt like such a long day but things were finally winding down as closing time approached. At the moment, Takaki and his coworker Chinen Yuri were restocking shelves and straightening everything up. 

Out of all the people Takaki worked with at both of his jobs, Chinen was definitely his favorite. Just like Takaki, Chinen was not usually very talkative. He appreciated a good silence and didn’t often make an effort to start conversation, but he always had a positive attitude that just radiated off of him without ever having to say anything. There were a few times when Takaki would peek into the break room in the back and see Chinen with headphones in, dancing silently to whatever song was playing on his ipod. And he never seemed to care whenever Takaki caught him mid-dance. He’d just wave a silent hello and then continue on. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Takaki asked, after he’d spent the last hour debating with himself whether he should ask or not. 

Chinen opened up a box of sunglasses and started putting them in the empty spaces on the display. “Sure,” he said. “Unless the question is ‘can you cover my shift on Saturday morning?’ because the answer is definitely no.” He was teasing in a friendly way.

Takaki pushed another box Chinen’s way. “No, that’s not it,” he said. “I was wondering if you knew of a family named Inoo that used to live around here.”

“Inoo?” Chinen repeated. He tapped his chin as he thought about it. “Ah, I know,” he remembered. “My parents knew them. They had a son who died unexpectedly. I don’t remember it though since I was just a baby at the time. Why do you ask?”

“I live in their old house. I was just wondering,” Takaki answered.

“Oh really?” Chinen said. “That’s a nice place. Is it haunted?”

“What?”

“There used to be a rumor when I was little that it was haunted after… you know…” he trailed off. 

“It’s not,” Takaki said. He figured was only a little white lie considering that Inoo didn’t do much in the way of a normal haunting. Not since he’d stopped tossing around his kitchen pans and such for fun. And Takaki had decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea to go around telling people he lived with a ghost. Not after what had happened with Yamada. 

They went back to working in silence for a while, but as Takaki was trying to adjust the surfboard display without knocking all of them over, Chinen spoke again. “So can I ask you a question?”

The last surfboard on the end wobbled, but Takaki caught it in time. “Sure, unless the question is ‘can you cover my shift on Friday morning?’ because the answer is definitely no,” Takaki repeated Chinen’s joke back to him.

“You are hilarious,” Chinen said in a deadpan voice, but then laughed.

“So what’s the question?” Takaki asked. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was now closing time. He locked the front door and waited for Chinen to continue.

“Did something happen to make you happier?”

The question caught him off guard. He turned around to see Chinen leaning with his back against the counter, his arms crossed. He had a serious look on his face, which was rather unusual for the younger boy.

“What do you mean?” Takaki asked.

“When you first started working here, you were so shut off from everything,” he explained. “Like you were kind of upset about something and a little lonely. You were basically like a human version of Grumpy Cat. Only without the funny captions.” 

Takaki raised his eyebrow at the odd comparison but didn’t interrupt Chinen. He walked around the counter to make sure the cash register was locked up. 

Chinen continued as he picked up a few of the empty boxes they had left from restocking the shelves. “But lately, you’ve been different. You still don’t talk much, but you’re definitely happier. It’s a good thing.” 

“I guess I am,” Takaki said. He hadn’t noticed it, but maybe he was enjoying things more these days.

“So what happened?”

“I made a new friend,” Takaki simply answered. He and Chinen picked up their things from the break room and were about to walk out of the back door. “His name is Yabu Kota.”

Chinen spun around quickly with wide eyes. “It’s you!” he exclaimed.

Takaki frowned in confusion at this reaction. “It’s me?” he repeated.

“Oh my gosh, Yabu hasn’t been able to shut up lately about some new guy he met a few weeks ago,” Chinen explained. “It’s totally you! Oh, I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him that I figured out who it is. I have been asking but he thinks it’s funny to be all mysterious about it.”

“You sure it’s me?” Takaki said. He considered that Yabu might possibly have many new friends to talk about. Takaki didn’t think he himself would be all that exciting. 

“It’s gotta be you,” Chinen said. “Everything he told me fits. And Yabu also mentioned that the guy zones out a lot and you are a total space case.”

“I am?” Takaki wondered briefly if he should feel insulted.

Chinen gave him an _of-course-you-are_ look. “Last week I saw you stare at the tie-dye shirt display for a solid hour.”

“Well, I…” Takaki stuttered, trying to think of a way to explain that. “I mean, there are patterns… you know?” Oh wow, he really _did_ zone out a lot, didn’t he? That was kind of embarrassing to realize. Should he ask Chinen if Yabu thought that was annoying? 

“He really likes you,” Chinen said, getting serious again. “And I’m guessing that you do too.”

Takaki gave a small nod. Things like _feelings_ were not exactly something he wanted to discuss with his coworker. He could barely discuss them with Inoo. 

“Good,” Chinen said, and then he patted Takaki comfortingly on the shoulder because he probably was beginning to look a little stressed out. Chinen pulled his ipod from his pocket, showing that he wasn’t going to discuss the issue anymore. “See you later,” he said with a friendly smile. With his headphones in, Chinen started to walk down the street, not caring at all who could see as he danced to the music. 

***

Takaki was pretty sure that his hands were shaking from the nervousness. He looked in the mirror again, trying to smooth out that one stubborn wrinkle by his left sleeve and cursing the fact that he’d ignored his mother’s suggestion to buy an iron when he’d moved out on his own. He looked over to the clock on his bedside table and realized that he really needed to go. All he had left to do was put his shoes on. Wait a minute, where were his shoes?!

“Inoo!” he exclaimed in frustration. 

Sure enough, the mischievous ghost soon appeared by sticking his head out through the nearby closet door. “You rang?” he said in a calm tone that ignored Takaki’s frantic one.

“Now is not the time to hide my stuff! Where are my shoes?” He felt like running his fingers through his hair in frustration but he didn’t want to mess it up. 

“Now why do you think I hid your shoes?” Inoo asked with his best innocent impression. He even blinked a few times for good measure.

“Oh, I don’t know. I learn from experience. Like how about the time you hid my fishing poles? Or that crate of apples I bought last week? Or all the books that had titles starting with the letter S?” Takaki could continue with more examples but stopped because he was running out of time. 

“Hey, moving those apples was actually a lot of hard work!” Inoo floated out of the bedroom with his arms crossed and towards the kitchen, totally uncaring about Takaki’s dilemma. “And I only took your shoes tonight so you wouldn’t leave the house with a mismatched pair of socks,” he called out over his shoulder.

Takaki looked down at his ankles and saw that he actually _was_ wearing socks that didn’t match. “Damn.” He quickly fixed the problem and then ran to the kitchen to find Inoo. He discovered that his shoes were waiting patiently by the door. And so was Inoo, except for the fact that he was standing in front of the door with his arms spread wide like Takaki wasn’t able to just walk right through him if necessary.

“You can’t leave until you take three deep breaths and calm down,” Inoo commanded while Takaki slipped his shoes on.

“I am calm!” Takaki said in a voice that was probably the exact opposite of said emotion.

“Then I would hate to see what agitated looks like on you,” Inoo continued. He hadn’t put his arms down. “It’s just a date.”

Takaki reached right through Inoo’s stomach and turned the doorknob. “Just a date? I think you must have forgotten how nerve-wracking a first date is.” 

Inoo continued to stand in his spot even as Takaki opened the door right through his transparent body. “No, nerve-wracking was watching you on the tiny phone when Yabu called to ask for said date. Compared to that, this should be a piece of cake.”

Inoo had a point there, Takaki considered. That conversation had been all sorts of awkward. Mostly because Yabu had spent a good majority of it trying not-so-subtly to find a subtle way to ask whether he was interested in dating boys. And when Takaki had finally answered in the affirmative, Yabu let out a sigh of relief and then accidentally ended the call. Takaki had just stared at his phone in disbelief for a few seconds until Yabu called back with frantic apologies for hitting the wrong button on the screen. They spent the next ten minutes or so deciding what to actually _do_ for a date because Yabu hadn’t planned that far ahead. When the discussion was all over, Takaki had felt both strangely elated and horribly anxious. Kind of like maybe he’d eaten a whole bunch of delicious chocolate and then someone had kicked him in the stomach. Repeatedly. 

“Okay, whatever,” Takaki said as he locked the back door. Inoo had finally floated out to the porch at least. “Whether I’m calm or not doesn’t change the fact that I’m now running late.” 

“You can blame it on me,” Inoo said, grinning proudly. He made a shooing motion with his hands. “Now go,” he commanded as if he hadn’t been the one to slow Takaki down in the first place.

Takaki jumped quickly into his car and pulled out his phone to let Yabu know he was on his way. He noticed his hands were still shaking a little as he texted out the words and hit send. As he turned the car on, he took three deep breaths like Inoo had suggested earlier and found that he actually did feel a little better afterwards. It didn’t take him long to drive to the restaurant where they’d agreed to meet. 

Yabu was already waiting outside when he pulled into the parking lot. Takaki was worried that Yabu would be upset that he was late, but the other boy just smiled as he waved and, instantly, everything seemed at least one hundred times better than before.

“Hi,” Takaki said.

“Hi,” Yabu answered.

And then it was silence between them. Wow, this was so awkward. What were they supposed to talk about? 

“Sorry I’m late,” Takaki said. “My roommate hid my shoes.” At the moment, Takaki didn’t care that he was talking like Inoo was a normal person. He hoped the story would make Yabu laugh and then everything would be slightly less awkward.

It worked. “Why would he do that?” Yabu asked between laughs.

“He thought he was being helpful.”

They were still standing outside and Yabu pointed to the crowded restaurant. “Well he might actually have been helpful. They told me it was a forty-five minute wait.”

“Oh.” Takaki frowned. “Should we… go somewhere else?”

“Depends on how hungry you are.”

“Starving,” Takaki admitted. He scratched the back of his head. This certainly wasn’t the best beginning to a date. He knew Yabu was a go with the flow sort of guy, but Takaki had hoped things would go smoothly. His stress levels were rapidly rising.

“Then let’s go,” Yabu said. He took off back towards the parking lot. “Where was it that you parked again? Ah, here it is.” He stopped by Takaki’s car and waited for him to unlock the door. 

“You didn’t drive here?” 

“Hikaru dropped me off,” Yabu explained as he got into the passenger seat. He shuffled through some junk on the floorboard and settled in. “The battery is dead in my car.” 

Takaki turned on the car, wondering vaguely if he had left anything embarrassing laying around anywhere on the seats or the floor. “So… where are we going?”

“I have no idea.” Yabu smiled like the whole situation was amusing to him. It didn’t seem like anything bothered him at all. Yabu reached out and grabbed his hand briefly, gave it a supportive squeeze, and then let go. “Let’s just wing it. Pick a direction and drive.” He grinned and pointed forwards.

This was more nerve-wracking than before, Takaki thought, but at least his hands had stopped shaking. He drove in a random direction, past restaurants that looked just as crowded as the one they left behind. Each place they passed was another one they crossed off the list of potential options. Sooner or later they were going to run out of options and Takaki feared that they were going to end up either eating pastries at the café where he worked or eating Happy Meals at the McDonalds down by the fishing pier. Neither place seemed appealing for a date. Especially not if Yuto or Keito happened to be working at the café tonight.

“How about that place?” Yabu asked suddenly. He pointed to the left, extending his arm right in front of Takaki’s face. Takaki inched up so that he could see the road again, and then turned into the parking lot of the restaurant Yabu had suggested. 

It was a tiny building with only two other cars in the parking lot. _The Island Grille_ was written in fancy neon pink letters above the doorway. The building itself looked like it had seen better days… maybe a hundred years ago. Takaki only hoped that the outside was not representative of the inside. McDonalds was starting to sound very appealing.

“Why is there an extra e on the end of grill?” Takaki asked.

“For fanciness?” Yabu guessed. 

“Have you ever eaten here before?”

Yabu shook his head. “Nope.” He walked bravely towards the door and then walked in without hesitation. Takaki followed, hoping that perhaps the restaurant was not, at least, infested with cockroaches. To his relief though, other than some moldy-looking carpet, the inside was not terrible. As it turned out, what _was_ terrible were the prices for the food. 

“Wow,” Yabu said, looking over the menu, “this must be gourmet or something.”

“Hm,” Takaki just hummed in disapproval of the outrageous prices for everything. 

“Do you want to just split something and eat dessert somewhere else?” Yabu suggested, still smiling like always. Takaki closed his menu and nodded. 

Things got better as they talked while waiting for their food. Yabu had some funny stories to tell and he asked Takaki lots of questions about his life. They discovered that they had more in common than they expected. Takaki didn’t know how Yabu managed to do it, but for a short time, he made Takaki forget that they were eating in a slightly grimy, slightly smelly old restaurant. 

Even though he had briefly forgotten, Takaki was reminded of their surroundings again when they waitress brought out their food. She lost her balance or something and tipped over Yabu’s glass of water as she set the plate of food down. The water splattered all over Yabu and the fallen glass landed on his fork which flew up into the air. Demonstrating his apparently excellent hand-eye coordination skills, Yabu reached out and caught the flying fork in mid-air. 

“Ta-da!” Yabu exclaimed as though he had been doing a magic trick. The waitress apologized and ran off to get something to wipe up the mess. Takaki tried not to laugh, but he snorted and then covered his mouth with his hand. 

“And for my next trick, I shall make half of this food disappear!” Yabu said, flourishing his hands like a magician. 

Takaki wasn’t even trying to cover up his laughter now because the whole thing was just ridiculous. Somehow Yabu had managed to turn a disaster into fun, and Takaki was absolutely amused by the whole thing. He didn’t even care that everyone in the restaurant was staring at them. 

Another hour later, and they were back in Takaki’s car in search for a place that sold ice cream. Yabu’s clothes had dried off, and he was comfortable in the passenger seat catching Takaki up on everything in the soccer world. Takaki drove past the McDonalds by the fishing pier and decided on a whim to stop there. There were picnic tables outside and the weather was nice even though the sun had already set. 

“What kind of ice cream do you like?” Yabu asked. 

“Just vanilla,” Takaki answered. “Plain, boring vanilla. Just like me, I guess.” He laughed.

Yabu laughed too and shook his head. “But you aren’t boring at all! Just tonight alone, I’ve learned that you can identify twenty different kinds of seashells, you take better care of your car than I do mine, you like to use coupons, and you promised to teach me to surf.”

“I did promise that, didn’t I?” Takaki smiled. 

“And,” Yabu continued, “you’ll eat tomatos! Gross!”

Takaki laughed once more, as they chose a picnic table to sit at now that they had their ice cream in hand. “They aren’t that bad,” he said.

“Groooooosssss,” Yabu repeated. 

“You are completely ridiculous,” Takaki said. 

Yabu smirked, but it looked extra silly because he had a mouthful of ice cream. “But that’s what you like about me, isn’t it?” 

“Perhaps.” 

Yabu looked satisfied and went back to eating his ice cream. He had ended up ordering plain vanilla as well. “I like your patience,” he suddenly said. “And your kindness.” 

Takaki paused with a spoonful of ice cream halfway to his mouth. He tilted his head to the side, wondering why he was suddenly being praised. He waited to see if Yabu was going to explain his words. 

“And I like the way you laugh,” Yabu continued.

“Thank you?” Takaki said. “I think.”

“We were just talking about why we like each other,” Yabu said, finally noticing that Takaki was completely clueless. 

“We were, weren’t we?” 

Yabu laughed a nice hearty laugh. “And I like you even when you zone out like that,” he added. 

Before Takaki could pretend to be offended by that, raindrops began falling from the sky. It was light at first, but the rain was steadily increasing. 

Yabu shot up from the table. “Save the ice cream!” he shouted and sprinted off towards Takaki’s car. Takaki followed, albeit at a slower pace, and with a hand shielding the ice cream he had left. By the time that they were both safely inside the car, it was a full-blown downpour outside. Yabu was out of breath from running and Takaki was out of breath from laughing. He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes for a minute. When he left the house earlier, he had not envisioned anything like this on his first date with Yabu. But it had been nice. 

“Your hair’s wet,” Yabu said as he finished off the last of his ice cream. He deposited the empty cup into the cup holder and leaned forward to brush the matted, wet hair out of Takaki’s eyes. 

“So’s yours,” Takaki said, and brushed Yabu’s hair to the side too. 

Things were beginning to feel a little awkward again. Nobody said anything as they continued to drip water onto the leather car seats. They were so close together that Takaki was almost afraid to breathe. That being-kicked-in-the-stomach feeling was back again. 

And then, without any sort of warning, Yabu leaned forward just a little bit more and kissed him. It was soft, gentle, and lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like much longer. Feeling a little flustered, Takaki had trouble meeting Yabu’s eyes afterwards and Yabu just laughed. 

“Yep,” Yabu said, “I really like you.” He settled back into the passenger seat, giving Takaki room to breathe again. “Also, your ice cream is melting.”

Takaki looked down at his cup of ice cream and found a swirly mass of melted goop. It probably would have been easier to eat the rest with a straw instead of a spoon. Shrugging, he set the cup with Yabu’s empty one. “Oh well.” 

“I probably need to get home soon,” Yabu said with a sigh. “Even though I don’t want to. Can you drop me off?”

“No problem,” Takaki said. Yabu gave him directions and he drove a little slower than usual. He pretended it was because of the wet roads, but truthfully, he just didn’t want the night to end. 

He pulled into the driveway of a plain-looking house. Hikaru was sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch. His feet were propped up on the railing and he was reading a magazine. Yabu got out of the car and Takaki rolled the car window down. The rain had finally stopped.

“Geez Hikaru,” Yabu said, “Are you pretending to be my father? You didn’t have to wait on the porch for me to get home.” 

Hikaru shot him an annoyed look from over the top of the magazine. “I’m locked out of the house.” 

Yabu laughed at this, and then turned to say goodbye to Takaki. “Despite all the weird things that happened, I had a wonderful time tonight.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll see you again soon,” Yabu said. He leaned through the window and gave Takaki a quick kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight!” 

Takaki backed his car slowly out of the driveway, watching as Yabu fumbled through his pockets for his keys. He couldn’t hear what they were saying anymore, but whatever Yabu had just said apparently warranted a whack on the head with Hikaru’s magazine. Finally, he got the door open and they both disappeared inside. 

***

Inoo was not in the house when Takaki returned. He took a few moments to wash his face and change into different clothes before grabbing a towel and going out to beach to find him. That was the only other place Inoo would be. Sure enough, Inoo was stretched out by the bottom of the sand dune, looking up at the stars. 

“I thought you’d be out here,” Takaki said. Knowing that the sand was wet from the rain, he spread out the towel so he could lie down beside the ghost. 

“I was thinking,” Inoo said. 

“Thinking what?” 

“Constellations are weird,” Inoo answered. 

Takaki looked up at the stars, which seemed brighter now after the rain, and agreed. He’d never quite been able to visualize the pictures that ancient people had drawn in the stars hundreds of years ago.

“So how was it?” Inoo asked. “I expect all the details.” 

“Honestly,” Takaki began, “it was kind of a disaster.” He explained to Inoo how they had to change their original plans and everything else that had happened. He left out the part about the kiss though because Inoo would definitely tease him about something like that. And he sort of wanted to share that memory with Yabu alone.

“The Island Grille??" Inoo said, looking horrified. “That place was a dump when I was _alive_. I can’t believe they’re still in business.”

“I couldn’t believe the roof of the building didn’t cave in on us while we were there.” 

“It’s certainly not the most romantic place for a date,” Inoo said.

Takaki shrugged. He didn’t really care much about over-the-top romantic stuff anyway. And he’d discovered that even sitting in his car with Yabu was good enough for himself. 

“But despite the disasters, are you still going to go on another date with him?” Inoo asked. There was a weird tone in his voice that didn’t match Inoo’s usual cheerful attitude. Takaki couldn’t quite figure out what it was though. 

“I am,” Takaki said. He was absolutely sure of that. “Wasn’t it you that told me that I shouldn’t be a hermit and that I should make an effort to interact with people even if I don’t want to?”

Inoo looked pleased. “Maybe not in those exact words. But yeah, that’s what I meant.”

Takaki nodded. “I really like Yabu,” he confessed. “Maybe in the future, things might not work out, but I won’t know unless I try. And for him, I’m going to try very hard.”

“You have grown wise under my tutelage, pupil,” Inoo said with a grin. 

Takaki tried to punch Inoo in the stomach but, of course, the only thing he hit was the wet sand underneath. “Don’t ruin the moment.” 

Inoo grew serious for a moment and looked back up to the sky. “If there’s one thing true in life, it’s that people come and go from your life in unexpected ways. People move away, move on, or die. So you just take your good memories, keep them, and then find someone else to make more memories with. I’m glad you aren’t wasting your opportunities.” 

“Thank you,” Takaki said.

“For what?”

“Just for being you,” he answered. “For giving good advice. For being my friend. For pushing me back in the right direction. Take your pick.” 

“Sometimes hermit crabs get so big that they have to go out and find a new shell and leave the old one behind,” Inoo said cryptically. “You know what I mean?”

“Not at all.” 

“Nevermind then,” Inoo said. “You’ll understand it one day.” 

“Sure,” Takaki said. He followed the blinking light of an airplane across the sky before speaking again. “Is there something wrong? You seem kinda… off tonight.” He could tell Inoo was trying to cover it up, but he couldn’t hide that strange tone in his voice. 

Inoo didn’t answer the question right away. “How old are you now?” he asked instead.

“Twenty-four.”

“You’re older than I was when I died,” Inoo said. “That’s so weird to think about. I was twenty-three.” Takaki didn’t say anything so Inoo continued. “To answer your question: tomorrow is the anniversary.”

“Of what?” But Takaki had a feeling that he already knew what Inoo was going to say.

“The anniversary of the day I died. It’ll be exactly twenty years tomorrow.” 

Takaki frowned and looked over at Inoo. The ghost had his hands resting on his stomach. Unlike usual where his emotions were easily displayed on his face, currently, there was only a hint of a frown across his features. In that moment, he looked younger. And if Takaki hadn’t been able to see the sand dune right through Inoo’s body, he would have forgotten that he was a ghost.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Takaki asked, unsure of what he should do in this situation. “Or would it be better for you to not talk about it? I mean, I really don’t know.”

“Well I’ve never had anyone to discuss it with before. So I guess it’ll be good for me to do this. If you want to listen.” 

Takaki just nodded. He was always listening. 

Inoo sat up and pulled his knees to his chest and Takaki followed suit. “You never managed to guess how I died.” He pointed out to the ocean waves. “I drowned. Right out there. But it wasn’t tragic like I’ve been saying. The only thing that was tragic about my death was that I was too dumb to avoid the rip currents.” He paused briefly and narrowed his eyes as he looked out at the waves. “The weather was nice that day and I had decided to swim for a while. But I went too far out and got tired. And when I got caught in the current, I panicked. My parents were out here on the beach but they couldn’t get to me in time. Not before I got too much water in my lungs. I don’t remember much after that. I mean, I don’t remember actually dying. It didn’t hurt though as if that’s some small sort of consolation.” Inoo frowned. “And I guess that’s about it. That’s what happened. All it took was about three minutes and a bunch of sea water to end everything.” 

Takaki looked out over the waves as Inoo’s words sunk in. He couldn’t even imagine going through that. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” he finally said. But the words came out like they were getting caught in his throat. “I wish that there was some way I could help you, that there was something I could do for you.” 

Inoo looked at him and smiled. Not his usual grin, not his mischievous smirk. Just a gentle, soft smile. “But you _have_ helped me. Much more than you can ever understand. I don’t know why I became trapped like this,” he paused and looked at his transparent hands, “but I think it might be because I was meant to meet you.” 

“Perhaps so.”

They sat together for a long time in silence just watching the waves. Those terrible, dangerous waves. Moving, moving, moving. Never stopping their endless motion. The water rushed forward in a loud, haphazardly fashion and then snuck back out to sea silently. Again and again and again. Nothing could stop them. Nothing could change them. And that’s just the way it was.

Finally Inoo broke the silence with a startled yelp. “Ack! Seagulls!” he exclaimed and pointed up to the birds gliding past. “The most evil of all birds!” He jumped up and began floating back towards the house. 

“They really aren’t that bad,” Takaki said with a laugh. He followed after the ghost.

“The most evil of all birds!” Inoo repeated again louder for emphasis. 

And so this was their life. Or after-life. And nothing really mattered as long as they kept moving.

***

“I just don’t think there are any soccer-themed snacks,” Takaki said. 

“Does the food really need to be soccer related?” Yamada said. “Because I would eat anything.”

Yamada’s friend, Daiki, spoke up. “What if you had a cake decorated like a soccer ball?”

“I like that idea!” Yabu said. 

The four of them were eating dinner together in a restaurant and discussing Yabu’s plan to throw a World Cup viewing party soon. Time had continued on and Takaki had been going out with Yabu for two months now. He’d also learned how to become a better friend to Yamada after they had finally sat down and had a good discussion on trusting each other and communicating better. It was exactly easy but they were working at it. 

Yabu was absentmindedly picking out the tomatoes from his salad and dumping them on Takaki’s plate as he discussed cake recipes with Daiki. Takaki didn’t even mind that the tomatoes were rolling all over the rice on his plate. 

“Daiki and I were going to go dancing after dinner,” Yamada said, distracting Takaki from his thoughts. “Did you guys want to come with us?” 

Takaki shook his head politely. “No thanks. We’ve already got plans.” 

By this point, Yabu and Daiki had moved on to suggestions about cupcakes instead and Yabu was in the middle of telling a story about the time Hikaru ate a whole package of raw cookie dough and got sick afterwards. 

“We don’t need the details while we’re eating,” Yamada said as Yabu’s description was beginning to get graphic. Takaki laughed. He knew Yabu hadn’t even noticed how much he was talking. 

“But you’re done eating,” Daiki pointed out. 

“We’re all done eating,” Takaki added. 

The group separated after paying the bill and Yabu took Takaki’s hand as they walked back to his car. “Did I hear you tell Yamada that we have plans?” Yabu asked. “I didn’t know we had plans.” He grinned with excitement. 

Takaki got into the driver’s seat and took a deep breath. “I was thinking that you could meet my roommate.” He wasn’t sure if telling Yabu that he lived with a ghost was a very good idea but he couldn’t keep this up forever. Yabu was sure to find out eventually. And Takaki guessed that, unlike Yamada’s initial reaction, Yabu wouldn’t freak out so much. At least, he hoped so.

“Ah, your mysterious roommate! This is exciting!” 

The drive to his house was short but Yabu managed to ask tons of questions on the way. Takaki just smiled and didn’t answer any of them. He liked watching Yabu try to figure out the mystery.

“This is your house?” Yabu said when they pulled up. “You live in the old Inoo house?”

“Oh you’ve heard of it?”

“Just rumors that it was haunted when I was a kid.”

Takaki grinned. “Are you afraid of ghosts?”

“Nope.” 

“Good,” Takaki said and unlocked the back door. 

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean??”

Takaki stepped into the kitchen and looked around. Inoo was nowhere to be seen, but Takaki figured he was probably somewhere in the house and not out on the beach. He could hear the TV in the living room playing one of Inoo’s favorite shows. 

“Why are there fish hooks in the curtain?” Yabu asked, pointing to the kitchen curtain that Inoo had decorated months ago as a prank. Takaki had never actually taken the hooks back down.

“It’s avant garde?” Takaki said with a shrug. “Anyway, sit down. I have to tell you something first.” 

Yabu looked confused but sat down at the kitchen table anyway. 

“My roommate is a ghost.” 

“Oh really?” 

That wasn’t exactly the reaction Takaki had expected, but at least Yabu hadn’t run out of the room screaming. 

“His name is Inoo Kei,” Takaki continued. Yabu’s eyes widened with understanding and nodded. “You do believe me, don’t you? Because when I first told Yamada, he thought I was crazy.” 

“Of course I do,” Yabu said. “You’re honest. That’s what I’ve always liked about you.” Yabu looked around the room. “So is he here?” 

Takaki shook his head. “Not yet.” He stood up and called out Inoo’s name towards the direction of the living room. He wasn’t expecting to hear Inoo’s voice coming from behind him.

“Yes?” Inoo said.

Takaki turned around to see Inoo’s head poking up through his kitchen sink. He rolled his eyes. “Are you trying to be scary? Because Yabu can’t see you and I don’t find you remotely terrifying at all.”

Inoo pouted. “I am totally terrifying!” he insisted, but then floated all the way out until he was standing in the middle of the kitchen floor with his hands on his hips. “But actually, I think you have a leak in the sink. I was looking for it.” 

“A leak?” Takaki was about to open up his cabinet doors and look himself when he remembered that Yabu was still there. And he probably thought Takaki looked crazy for talking to himself. “Whatever. Just do something so Yabu knows you’re here.”

Yabu looked around with anticipation when suddenly the salt shaker on the table tipped over. To Yabu it looked like the salt was pouring out on its own, but Inoo was actually dumping it out.

“Don’t waste my salt,” Takaki complained.

Inoo ignored him and drew a silly-looking smiley face in the salt pile. Yabu laughed. 

“Nice to meet you,” he said, hoping that he was looking in the right direction at Inoo. “I hear that you take good care of my boyfriend. Thank you.” 

Takaki wished that Yabu could see how happy those words had made Inoo. He was grinning from ear to ear. He took a moment and wrote out the words _thank YOU_ into the salt. 

“He says likewise,” Takaki said. “I’m sorry you can’t see or hear him but he will definitely move stuff around to let you know he’s here. He’s kinda like a friendly poltergeist.”

“I am not a poltergeist!” Inoo protested with a laugh and tossed the pepper shaker at him. Takaki easily stepped out of the way. 

Yabu laughed as he watched Takaki complain about the wasted salt and pepper. “Hey Inoo?” he called out. “I’m going to call you Polty from now on.”

“Polty?!” Inoo exclaimed. “Of all the nicknames you could pick, you choose Polty?!”

“He thinks that’s great,” Takaki said.

“I do not!” Inoo said. “Tell him I do not! Don’t abuse your translator privileges!” He was busy spelling out a dramatic _NOOOOOOO_ in the salt for good measure. 

Takaki laughed and Yabu joined in and even Inoo finally gave up and laughed too. It was weird. The whole situation was weird. But that’s just how it was. They were like pieces of multi-colored seashells washing up on the shore, coming together to create an impromptu mosaic of art. No one knew how the picture was going to turn out. 

And that was perfectly okay.


End file.
